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Tuesday, 20 September 2016

As I type I can still proclaim that Teenage Fanclub "Here" is a Top 10 album in the UK. Hooray.

Haven't bought it yet? Click 'here' (*chortle*).Guess what we were up to last week?

On Saturday I took my wee boy to see the filming of a BBC show "The Dog Ate My Homework" (thanks, Hannah).

At the School Disco section the whole audience had to get up and dance while the cameras whizzed around. Must set my video.

I liked these extracts from John Le Carre's autobiography. Favourite line on his troubled relationship with his father:

"when we buried the hatchet, we always remembered where we’d put it."

And the hits just keep on coming. I was delighted to be asked to arrange a piece of music for the Decca Classics album "The Lost Songs Of St Kilda". The Scottish Festival Orchestra played, James Macmillan conducted and - only my track - Julie Fowlis recited and sang. The other composers were James Macmillan, Craig Armstrong, Rebecca Dale and C. Duncan. Our arrangements sat alongside solo piano recordings by the late Trevor Morrison. At the moment is sitting at No1 in the Official Classical Artist Albums Chart and on the Classic FM Chart.

Wednesday, 14 September 2016

As we were loading the van outside afterwards, who comes blinking' swannin' by but the one and only Barbara Windsor. I told her that I could make a lot of people jealous if I could get a photo with her and she obliged. We didn't bug her for too long but she was lovely and friendly and quick to smile.

In the evening we played an in-store at the Rough Trade Record Shops and I picked up some swag:

A curry in Brick Lane...

...then bed.

Today I was interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland's Janice Forsyth Show discussing my involvement with "The Lost Songs Of St Kilda" - an amazing project to be part of (sorry (not sorry) to repeat myself...).

Unfortunately it was a pre-record and they edited in the wrong track by accident. So here's me banging on about the great Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis and how privileged I was to be asked, along with these other esteemed composers, to write for string orchestra and harp - and then a different track entirely was broadcast. D' oh!

A while ago I blogged about my day in the studio with James Macmillan, Craig Armstrong, C Duncan, Rebecca Dale and The Scottish Festival Orchestra. The St Kilda songs album was released the same day as TFC's "Here" and The Beatles "Live At The Hollywood Bowl". It's going to be a close run thing for the No1 spot.

*winks*

If you haven't enjoyed his recent work you might not be converted by Woody Allen's "Cafe Society" - but I liked it. Fun - if not wildly funny - and sweet and beautifully shot. A favourite line (which must have been kicking around before now): "Live each day like it's your last and one day you'll be right."

I visited The National Gallery (Rembrandt's self-portrait at the age of 63 is a favourite), The National Portrait Gallery (great William Eggleston exhibition; memories of meeting the man himself once in Memphis, and memories of Alex Chilton too), I ate Mexican food, I saw a West End show (matinee performance of The Play That Goes Wrong - which was fun), and the new Pedro Almodóvar flick which unfolded pleasingly.

The
recent gigs in Bristol, End Of The Road Festival in Dorset, London, Edinburgh
and Manchester have been increasingly hot and sweaty...

Manchester audience spontaneously combusting last week

But it is all worth it
when someone from Japan gifts you a nice new pair of socks (thanks, Keiko).

A pair of Japanese socks last Wednesday

Recent
tour chat has included theorising on the construction of a grosvenor pie (I think Gerry cracked it); the difference between a sauce and a reduction (unresolved); and a brief Norman routine about trombone players being able to practice on their way to a gig with the sliding handle on their suitcases. You had to be there; well-oiled and giddy with sleep deprivation...

And it is worth it's own blog but at the risk of repeating myself, (*coughs*) I am very glad to be a part of “The Lost Songs Of St Kilda” (Decca Classics). It's not often I get asked to write for 20-piece string orchestra and harp (The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra) conducted by James MacMillan with vocals by Julie Fowlis.